Claudia Takada from Clarke Hopkins Clarke has been announced the winner of the 2023 Buildner Office Design Competition for her proposal for an office space in Blackheath, New South Wales.

The speculative project has been designed with the knowledge that working remotely is now possible from anywhere in the world as long as there is internet. It offers a remote working space in an Australian bushland setting for urban workers. The proposal seamlessly blends with its surroundings and incorporates a "breathing" theme, with each room able to access an outdoor pergola or wooden shutters for airflow.

Takada created a tranquil design that reflects her own working-from-home aspirations.

"Tactile, slow and calming are words we probably associate with time spent outside the working environment. This proposal aims to change our understanding of office environments by incorporating community uses, timeless materials and an open, breathable structure that opens out into a verdant, sometimes harsh landscape," Takada said.

Dubbed Blackheath Creative Hub, the proposal provides a flexible alternative to office work by adapting to evolving work patterns. The design caters to the unique needs of both office workers and the wider community by integrating co-working spaces, private offices, multi-purpose areas, soundproof booths and meeting rooms, a communal kitchen and dining area, an open library, small nooks and multiple private and shared entry and exit points.

Takada said she projected her own aspirations onto the design. "I'm quite introverted so I feel more comfortable in smaller, enclosed spaces, which are accommodated in this scheme," she said.

"Tactility is something else I like to think about with my design, especially from a user point of view. It makes the whole experience more interesting and inviting. I especially love using Australian timbers like Jarrah and Blackbutt, playing with the colours inherent in each one, using them to accentuate certain ideas or structural items or as a background finish that brings a lot of warmth."

Juror Julia Murphy, a managing partner at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, said, "This project offers a poetic relationship of nature and the outdoors to the post-covid office landscape and takes a radical approach to humanism in the office environment."

A submission dubbed Parasitic Office by University of Sydney students Weicheng Li and Zihan Xu received an honourable mention in the competition.

Source: TourismAfrica2006